Psa 104:33 I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
While I have my being.
We lose our being, our being is temporary.
Psa 63:4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
While I live.
We lose our lives.
Psa 146:2 While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
While I live. While I have any being.
So many people really believe that they'll have the ability to praise God always forever without end. Yet why would David say these words? Why would we read - 'while I have my being.' And 'while I live.'
David KNEW there would come a time when he no longer had his 'being', when he no longer 'lived', and then he wouldn't be able to praise, sing, lift up his hands to God. Yet if…as so many people believe…we never really die but simple switch from having a physical being to a spiritual being upon death then WHY can't that spiritual being sing praises to God? Angels are spiritual beings and they sing. We cannot imagine being unable to speak after death- right? If we in fact we are among those who believe in instant life after death- which I don't and neither did David.
Psa 31:12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.
Psa 88:9 Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Psa 88:10 Wilt thou shew wonders to the dead? shall the dead arise and praise thee? Selah.
Psa 88:11 Shall thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave? or thy faithfulness in destruction?
Psa 88:12 Shall thy wonders be known in the dark? and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
Psa 115:17 The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
Ecc 9:5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.
How can ANYONE believe that we live after we die?
Yes, there are a lot of verses that indicate there is life after death, but that doesn't mean there is IMMEDIATE LIFE after death.
Why are we told the dead in Christ shall rise and meet the Lord in the air, if they are already living with Him in heaven?
We've had plenty of studies on the dead being dead not living on in any existence after death until Christ returns, but I've been thinking a lot about it lately. Yesterday's study talked about us being dust. We die and return to dust.
Gen 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
The spirit shall return to God. The word spirit here is the word used for breath. God gave Adam his first breath- remember?
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.
The breath of life. It's that breath of life given to Adam that has subsequently been given to EVERY human being who has ever lived.
Think about it! We have the breath of God in us. Adam's breath, Eve's breath created Cain and Seth's breath and on and on. When Adam died, the breath that enable Him to live was expelled and he never took in another breath. That breath returned to God who gave it.
Now one of the things I've been thinking on is this-- will we get that breath of life back from God?
Lazarus stopped breathing when he died and was wrapped in his burial shroud and laid in his tomb. The breath that he received from his parents, who all the way back to Adam and Eve received the breath from God went back to God. But then Jesus call Lazarus back to life. That breath returned to his body. It had been given by God through long line of ancestors and God gave it back to Him, without receiving that breath back into his body he could not have lived again. We have to remember that Lot had begun to decay already- a human body doesn't stay well preserved for very long unless it is frozen and he wasn't frozen-not even close. The body begins decay immediately going through the process of deterioration. Remember this…
Joh 11:39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
She knew her brother was decaying in the tomb, she wasn't under any other impression at all whatsoever. So when that breath of life returned to Lazarus another change took place as well, the process of decay was instantly reversed, new life was given to Lazarus by the power of God.
No matter when we die- a day before Christ returns or 1000 days, or 6000 days, or more when we are called from our graves no matter where they may be we will be given a new body of dust and that breath of life that God took back from us will return to that new incorruptible body. We will have bodies that will be preserved by the tree of life and never ever see corruption.
God who formed Adam from dust, God who formed Eve from Adam, God who gave Lazarus new life and reversed the decay he'd undergone, God who gave our SAVIOR new life, God who gave back our Savior His breath of life will give us that breath of life again along with new life - new flesh.
God knows each one of us.
God knows all who have been born.
God knows all who have been formed by the miracle of new life that He enable mankind to perform.
There isn't a single person that God doesn't know, not one.
Right now there is a big to do over there being 7 billion people upon earth now and that is an incredible amount of people- God knows every single one. God knows every person that lived and we can't even count that number. Each one received His breath in order to live and each one will receive that breath again- some to eternal life and others to eternal death.
Dear God may we PLEASE be among those who receive Your breath again if we die before Your return, and if we are blessed to not die let us please receive the new flesh you will give to all who will be yours!
By Your grace Lord, by Your righteousness!
In Your love always, always!
Amen.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Monday, October 31, 2011
He remembers we are dust
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
*******
God KNOWS our frame. God knows what we are made of- He created us from dust. Just because we weren't continuously created from dust but rather miraculously formed within the womb of our mothers after the essence from both father and mother join, doesn't mean that we are not dust. I think WE tend to forget that we are but dust and we also imagine God believing we are something other than dust as well. The most God fearing man of God was too made of dust, not of anything even remotely immortal.
Do you remember a study we did a short while back on immortality? In the study we saw how God planted the tree of life in the garden where Adam and Eve were created.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life.
Man was not created with immortal flesh. Man was created with the ability to life forever as long as He had access to the 'Tree of Life'. Man was created from the dust of the ground, and even then he wasn't a living thing. He didn't become a living thing until God breathed into him the breath of life.
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.
God KNOWS we were created out of dust, He took that dust and He used His power to form all that we are, every intricate detail that we have was formed by God.
If a person's heart stops beating, or his lungs stop breathing we have measures we try to take to get that heart beating again, to get that breath going. We do CPR, we breathe our breath into the mouth and down into the lungs of another hoping to jumpstart the other person's lungs into responding, barring that we do it until mechanical means can take over and breathe for the person who isn't breathing. Without that breath going in and out of the body it doesn't live. God put the first breath into the lungs of Adam, God brought that lifeless body He'd created from dust- to life.
AFTER God brought that dust formed body to life man had to eat- he was created that way.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
'…good for food.'
Food. Man was created with the need to eat and given wonderful food to eat. Man was also given the TREE OF LIFE.
The Tree of LIFE-
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
12 manner of fruits.
Brought forth fruit every month.
Fruit is for eating. Man even in his immortal flesh will eat from this tree of life, man will eat every month a different fruit from that tree of life. That fruit will allow man to continue in immortality as He was designed. Remember…
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and NOW, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Man made of dust was NO longer allowed to eat from the tree of life- man made of dust was NO longer allowed to have immortality.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The tree of life will one day belong to mankind once more, but only to those who are God's. No unrepentant, no unforgiven, no God-less person will have immortality.
God remembers we are dust- He remembers we are not immortal.
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Psa 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Psa 103:16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
Psa 103:18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
Our days are like the grass, our days are like the flowers in the field. We grow new as a tender shoot of grass until we reach full maturity as our season of life continues, then slowly we begin to wither as our life cycle winds down. Our life just like the life cycle of all living things is temporary. And unless we are some very important historical figure making some major contribution to history- we are soon forgotten. Sure we ALL know we've had ancestors dating all the way back in time- but we don't remember them.
God's mercy lasts forever! And it will last forever for those who are HIS, those who reverence Him, those who fear Him, those who claim God's righteousness because they have none of their own. Those who keep the Lord's covenant, those who remember the Lord's commandments, they will have the Lord's mercy. Long after we've returned to dust again, God will remember us. He knows we are housed in bodies of living dust, bodies that will wither away just as wild flowers and grass disappears. He loves us and every single person that is found in Him, loving Him, will one day receive a body of dust once more and immortality. Jesus took on a dust formed body, and Jesus rose from the grave in the dust formed body. He was touched, His flesh was felt and He had the same dust formed flesh as all humans have. He rose from the earth in that body of dust- He been given immortality. Our Savior, our Lord, He will forever bear His humanity- the first fruit of humanity given salvation through His innocence, through His complete obedience to His Father, to the truth they'd both created. Our Savior died pure so that we could live through His purity.
God remembers we are dust.
We need to remember this too.
We are dust. And while we will return to dust part of us that BREATH we are given by God, that LIFE we are given by God as we are formed within our mother's wombs, that part of us returns to God. WE do not return to God, our bodies, our thoughts, our memories, our ability to praise Him all cease as we sleep and know nothing- until by the Grace and Mercy of our Savior we will be raised from the dead when Jesus returns. That breath of life will return to us as we are raised in new bodies of dust and given immortality. What a blessing, what miracles!
God knows we are but dust and He has MERCY upon us.
In His love may we be His always!
Amen.
*******
God KNOWS our frame. God knows what we are made of- He created us from dust. Just because we weren't continuously created from dust but rather miraculously formed within the womb of our mothers after the essence from both father and mother join, doesn't mean that we are not dust. I think WE tend to forget that we are but dust and we also imagine God believing we are something other than dust as well. The most God fearing man of God was too made of dust, not of anything even remotely immortal.
Do you remember a study we did a short while back on immortality? In the study we saw how God planted the tree of life in the garden where Adam and Eve were created.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life.
Man was not created with immortal flesh. Man was created with the ability to life forever as long as He had access to the 'Tree of Life'. Man was created from the dust of the ground, and even then he wasn't a living thing. He didn't become a living thing until God breathed into him the breath of life.
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.
God KNOWS we were created out of dust, He took that dust and He used His power to form all that we are, every intricate detail that we have was formed by God.
If a person's heart stops beating, or his lungs stop breathing we have measures we try to take to get that heart beating again, to get that breath going. We do CPR, we breathe our breath into the mouth and down into the lungs of another hoping to jumpstart the other person's lungs into responding, barring that we do it until mechanical means can take over and breathe for the person who isn't breathing. Without that breath going in and out of the body it doesn't live. God put the first breath into the lungs of Adam, God brought that lifeless body He'd created from dust- to life.
AFTER God brought that dust formed body to life man had to eat- he was created that way.
Gen 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
'…good for food.'
Food. Man was created with the need to eat and given wonderful food to eat. Man was also given the TREE OF LIFE.
The Tree of LIFE-
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
12 manner of fruits.
Brought forth fruit every month.
Fruit is for eating. Man even in his immortal flesh will eat from this tree of life, man will eat every month a different fruit from that tree of life. That fruit will allow man to continue in immortality as He was designed. Remember…
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and NOW, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
Man made of dust was NO longer allowed to eat from the tree of life- man made of dust was NO longer allowed to have immortality.
Rev 2:7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
The tree of life will one day belong to mankind once more, but only to those who are God's. No unrepentant, no unforgiven, no God-less person will have immortality.
God remembers we are dust- He remembers we are not immortal.
Psa 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Psa 103:15 As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
Psa 103:16 For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.
Psa 103:17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;
Psa 103:18 To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
Our days are like the grass, our days are like the flowers in the field. We grow new as a tender shoot of grass until we reach full maturity as our season of life continues, then slowly we begin to wither as our life cycle winds down. Our life just like the life cycle of all living things is temporary. And unless we are some very important historical figure making some major contribution to history- we are soon forgotten. Sure we ALL know we've had ancestors dating all the way back in time- but we don't remember them.
God's mercy lasts forever! And it will last forever for those who are HIS, those who reverence Him, those who fear Him, those who claim God's righteousness because they have none of their own. Those who keep the Lord's covenant, those who remember the Lord's commandments, they will have the Lord's mercy. Long after we've returned to dust again, God will remember us. He knows we are housed in bodies of living dust, bodies that will wither away just as wild flowers and grass disappears. He loves us and every single person that is found in Him, loving Him, will one day receive a body of dust once more and immortality. Jesus took on a dust formed body, and Jesus rose from the grave in the dust formed body. He was touched, His flesh was felt and He had the same dust formed flesh as all humans have. He rose from the earth in that body of dust- He been given immortality. Our Savior, our Lord, He will forever bear His humanity- the first fruit of humanity given salvation through His innocence, through His complete obedience to His Father, to the truth they'd both created. Our Savior died pure so that we could live through His purity.
God remembers we are dust.
We need to remember this too.
We are dust. And while we will return to dust part of us that BREATH we are given by God, that LIFE we are given by God as we are formed within our mother's wombs, that part of us returns to God. WE do not return to God, our bodies, our thoughts, our memories, our ability to praise Him all cease as we sleep and know nothing- until by the Grace and Mercy of our Savior we will be raised from the dead when Jesus returns. That breath of life will return to us as we are raised in new bodies of dust and given immortality. What a blessing, what miracles!
God knows we are but dust and He has MERCY upon us.
In His love may we be His always!
Amen.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Matthew 24:32-51 We've been warned
Mat 24:32 Now learn a PARABLE of the fig tree
When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh
A fig tree would not have tender branches newly filled with leaves IF it weren't summer, it would be against all nature. People KNOW when they see the new leaves forming that summer is on its way- it is inevitable.
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Christ's return is inevitable.
Christ's return is on the way.
We see the signs. We've lived through so many years that we cannot help but realize that the signs are all there.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
This is TRUE. As sign by sign is fulfilled and we hold witness to them we KNOW that the generation witnessing the signs that are fulfilled at the very end will NOT pass away into the next generation without our Savior returning. THIS will happen and people make the grave mistake of believing that there is a fallacy here. They'd rather simply believe that all this is untrue than honestly imagine the words of our Savior coming to pass. It's easy to fall asleep when you are waiting for something and it takes a long time, longer than perhaps expected. I'm very confident in saying that I believe almost everyone in the world at one point or another has fallen asleep as they've waited for something. Many, many people have fallen asleep, in fact the Bible tells us that all fall asleep and it's HOW they awaken that will matter. Will they awaken prepared and ready, or will they have fallen asleep unprepared so that when they wake they are not ready? Before people fall asleep they NEED to be ready, completely ready for our Savior's return.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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.
As it was in the DAYS of Noah- people were going about their lives totally unconcerned with the flood that was going to come upon the earth. Just as today many, many people are totally unconcerned with the end of the world and the return of our Savior. In Noah's day they didn't believe it would happen. Today they don't believe it will happen. People laugh and scoff at those heralding the end of the world and in some ways they are justified - such as when people put a date on that moment and prepare for that date as the end of the world. The days constantly come and go without the end of the world happening and this has led many people to simply laugh at the idea of the world ever ending, and Jesus Christ returning to earth. Just as we can imagine them laughing at Noah as he built that ark- a flood, ha! Yet the flood came leaving many to perish along with their unbelief.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The situation… our Savior will return and some will be prepared and some will not. It is the same theme in this passage since our Savior told us the parable of the fig tree. When we see things come to pass that point to a future reality we have to know they WILL come to pass. As it was in Noah's day it will be in our day. Christ will return and the dead in Christ will rise and the living in Christ will rise and meet the Lord in the air. The prepared person next to the unprepared will SEE that prepared person rising to meet the Lord in the air, even as they will be destroyed moments later by the brightness of our Lord's coming. The prepared are saved, the unprepared are NOT saved.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
WATCH. Be prepared! Look for the signs!
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
If we know a thief is headed our way we would NOT leave our house vulnerable to being robbed.
We KNOW that the end of the world is coming and we HAVE to WATCH and be ready, or we will suffer the consequences of NOT being prepared.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
BE ready! Because our Savior will return when people least expect Him. Remember- all will sleep but we can fall asleep READY. We can be ready even if our Savior comes when we don't expect Him to. We need to be ready ALWAYS! Not a day should go by when we aren't prepared for our Savior's second coming.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Those who are ready.
Those who are doing all the Lord tells them they should be doing.
Those who are faithful in serving the Lord will be BLESSED if they continue on in their faithfulness serving Him.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We have a choice! We have to choose to serve our Lord always, faithfully! We have to be prepared. We cannot EVER believe that our Savior will NOT come for us! We have to be FAITHFUL! Many will fall away. Many will lose faith. All will fall asleep but many will fall asleep UNPREPARED.
We've been WARNED!
No one will be able to say that they were not forewarned, NO ONE. That excuse will not be acceptable.
So go ahead call those who are waiting and watching for their Savior's return among the lunatic fringe, they won't mind because those waiting know there are going to be many that will scoff at their belief.
Ready or not, our Savior is going to return, it is my pray, my desire that we are all READY.
We have to keep watching the signs, we have to keep looking at the truth. No one will be able to say they didn't have an opportunity to be saved, no one. Every single person will have that choice. Please Lord let our choice be to know You to be Yours always! Help us to be prepared, to be ready, to be faithfully Your servant!
We do NOT want to be among those weeping and gnashing our teeth!
In Your love, through Your righteousness, by Your grace and mercy in Your forgiveness, ALWAYS!
Amen.
When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh
A fig tree would not have tender branches newly filled with leaves IF it weren't summer, it would be against all nature. People KNOW when they see the new leaves forming that summer is on its way- it is inevitable.
Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Christ's return is inevitable.
Christ's return is on the way.
We see the signs. We've lived through so many years that we cannot help but realize that the signs are all there.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
This is TRUE. As sign by sign is fulfilled and we hold witness to them we KNOW that the generation witnessing the signs that are fulfilled at the very end will NOT pass away into the next generation without our Savior returning. THIS will happen and people make the grave mistake of believing that there is a fallacy here. They'd rather simply believe that all this is untrue than honestly imagine the words of our Savior coming to pass. It's easy to fall asleep when you are waiting for something and it takes a long time, longer than perhaps expected. I'm very confident in saying that I believe almost everyone in the world at one point or another has fallen asleep as they've waited for something. Many, many people have fallen asleep, in fact the Bible tells us that all fall asleep and it's HOW they awaken that will matter. Will they awaken prepared and ready, or will they have fallen asleep unprepared so that when they wake they are not ready? Before people fall asleep they NEED to be ready, completely ready for our Savior's return.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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.
As it was in the DAYS of Noah- people were going about their lives totally unconcerned with the flood that was going to come upon the earth. Just as today many, many people are totally unconcerned with the end of the world and the return of our Savior. In Noah's day they didn't believe it would happen. Today they don't believe it will happen. People laugh and scoff at those heralding the end of the world and in some ways they are justified - such as when people put a date on that moment and prepare for that date as the end of the world. The days constantly come and go without the end of the world happening and this has led many people to simply laugh at the idea of the world ever ending, and Jesus Christ returning to earth. Just as we can imagine them laughing at Noah as he built that ark- a flood, ha! Yet the flood came leaving many to perish along with their unbelief.
Mat 24:40 Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
Mat 24:41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
The situation… our Savior will return and some will be prepared and some will not. It is the same theme in this passage since our Savior told us the parable of the fig tree. When we see things come to pass that point to a future reality we have to know they WILL come to pass. As it was in Noah's day it will be in our day. Christ will return and the dead in Christ will rise and the living in Christ will rise and meet the Lord in the air. The prepared person next to the unprepared will SEE that prepared person rising to meet the Lord in the air, even as they will be destroyed moments later by the brightness of our Lord's coming. The prepared are saved, the unprepared are NOT saved.
Mat 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.
WATCH. Be prepared! Look for the signs!
Mat 24:43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.
If we know a thief is headed our way we would NOT leave our house vulnerable to being robbed.
We KNOW that the end of the world is coming and we HAVE to WATCH and be ready, or we will suffer the consequences of NOT being prepared.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
BE ready! Because our Savior will return when people least expect Him. Remember- all will sleep but we can fall asleep READY. We can be ready even if our Savior comes when we don't expect Him to. We need to be ready ALWAYS! Not a day should go by when we aren't prepared for our Savior's second coming.
Mat 24:45 Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?
Mat 24:46 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.
Those who are ready.
Those who are doing all the Lord tells them they should be doing.
Those who are faithful in serving the Lord will be BLESSED if they continue on in their faithfulness serving Him.
Mat 24:47 Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.
Mat 24:48 But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming;
Mat 24:49 And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;
Mat 24:50 The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,
Mat 24:51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We have a choice! We have to choose to serve our Lord always, faithfully! We have to be prepared. We cannot EVER believe that our Savior will NOT come for us! We have to be FAITHFUL! Many will fall away. Many will lose faith. All will fall asleep but many will fall asleep UNPREPARED.
We've been WARNED!
No one will be able to say that they were not forewarned, NO ONE. That excuse will not be acceptable.
So go ahead call those who are waiting and watching for their Savior's return among the lunatic fringe, they won't mind because those waiting know there are going to be many that will scoff at their belief.
Ready or not, our Savior is going to return, it is my pray, my desire that we are all READY.
We have to keep watching the signs, we have to keep looking at the truth. No one will be able to say they didn't have an opportunity to be saved, no one. Every single person will have that choice. Please Lord let our choice be to know You to be Yours always! Help us to be prepared, to be ready, to be faithfully Your servant!
We do NOT want to be among those weeping and gnashing our teeth!
In Your love, through Your righteousness, by Your grace and mercy in Your forgiveness, ALWAYS!
Amen.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Duality of the 4th Commandment
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labour,
and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God
in it thou shalt not do any work . . . (Exodus 20:8-10)
This is a commandment not only to rest, but a commandment to use six days to labor. Seriously. It's easy to overlook this aspect of the fourth commandment when we are studying it because we tend to focus on the resting aspect of the day. But if we really examine it, this IS a commandment to WORK for six days prior to the one day of REST.
People have six days to work, six days to labor, not one, not two, not three, four, or five but six days to work. A lot of people have five days of what they call work but in truth when we are not focused upon our Creator we are usually focused where? Upon ourselves, upon the things that we want or need to do. On the seventh day we are to focus upon our Creator and that entails EVERY SINGLE facet of our Creator from beginning to end and by end I mean the end of our ability to know our Creator. There is infinite knowledge of our Creator in truth, and because He is a living being, a being without beginning and without end we can never, ever reach an end of knowing Him. Unlike so much in life that has a beginning and an end where we can discover all we can about things, God is a being that transcends all that. So no one can ever get to a point in their relationship with God where they can say they know everything there is to know about Him.
Six days of work. Six days of the secular. Six days to eke out a living for ourselves.
One day of rest. One day of the spiritual. One day to focus on solely living for God, as God would have us live.
We have one day in seven to store up a spiritual blessing enough to last us the next six days.
The Sabbath was created for us, for our spiritual existence.
Satan would have mankind believe they have no need of a spiritual existence, that a carnal existence is more than enough. Satan convinced Eve that she had no need to listen to God's command, that she needed to indulge HERSELF, she needed to focus on self, not God. Her flesh desires mattered more than God's spiritual desire. The fruit was *pleasing* to the sight. The fruit would give her a knowledge of *good and evil like God*. Yet the bottom line was it was God who told her NOT to eat of that fruit, not to indulge that flesh desire, but rather trust Him to know that it was best for them NOT to know good and evil, but to know rather only good. To gain a knowledge of evil is to open the door to evil.
Today in our sad, sick world we call those raised without exposure to a lot of worldly evils- naïve, as if that is a really bad thing. Our children are missing out on something good if we don't allow them to be exposed to worldly evil. Our children are missing out on vital mental and emotional building blocks when we keep them from evil. It's better people say to let them be exposed to evil at its worse then that way they are prepared to face life armed with necessary knowledge to get them far in our world. LIES!
It is Satan that does NOT want our children protected, any more than He wanted God's children protected. Rather than allowing our children to grow up without be exposed to the intense evil mankind exists in we try to protect them and THEN when they are mature enough is time enough to allow them the full knowledge of the evils out there. Why do we insist they grow up abused by life, just to teach them to develop a tough outer shell?
Satan wanted mankind exposed to evil, God did not. God wanted His children to trust Him and that trust protected them from evil. Satan did not want God's children protected, he wanted them exposed to evil and therefore become unworthy of God and partakers of the same evil he'd become a partaker of.
God wanted mankind to feed spiritually for a full day with Him- this was before sin entered the world. Adam and Eve were tending the beautiful garden and the creatures of the world- this was their six days of labor, just as God had labored in creating their world and bringing them into existence in six days, the seventh Day God rested, the seventh day God set aside as holy, the day after He'd completed His creation of mankind, for mankind. From nothingness into existence and this was worthy of great reflection.
From the beginning until now we have had a seven day week without any astronomic reasoning for it- unlike the month and the year.
Seven days.
Symbolic of creation no matter how the devil has tried to twist even that to become perverted through paganism and pagan titles.
Seven days.
Six days for man to do all they need to do for their flesh existence.
One day for man to do all they need to do for their spiritual existence.
One day out of every seven days we are to be reminded of God in all His glory, we are to be reminded of how we came to exist, why we exist. And Satan would have us forget how and why, rather desiring that we focus on our flesh self, our carnal self. As long as we are focusing on self we are NOT focusing on God and this pleases Satan.
Satan doesn't want us to believe we need to work six days. Satan would much rather have us believe that we deserve two days of rest or more. Satan is equally pleased if we want to work seven days a week. Satan wants us to do anything and everything that will defy God.
Told to work six days we are in essence being told that we need to use six days a week to prepare for the one day of rest. Get all the things we absolutely need to get done in order to provide for ourselves and those under our care and then give ourselves the blessing of devoting the seventh day to God, a spiritual blessing allowing us to set aside everything concerned with our providing for ourselves and allow God to provide for us a spiritual feast. Does this mean we are to shut ourselves up in a closet for a full day? Absolutely NOT! We are to live our lives as our Savior gave us an example to live them and He preached, He taught, He healed, He allowed provisions for eating all on the Sabbath day. He didn't want this day of spiritual renewal, this day of spiritual reminding of our Creator to be a day we abhorred. He didn't want the Sabbath day to be more important than the creature He'd created and MADE the Sabbath for. There would be absolutely NO need for a Sabbath if man hadn't been created. The Sabbath was made FOR US as a GIFT, a special gift and it is Satan who wants it to be seen as a burdensome, restrictive commandment of God's, something to limit us, to take away our time, to take away our carnal desire, something that is bad, not wonderful. It was Satan who allowed the Sabbath to become something seemingly more important than the mankind it was created for. Satan and his deception hard at work.
Six days we are to labor.
One day we are to rest.
This isn't to say we aren't supposed to rest at all during those six days. We are made to need sleep daily, to need the rest of sleep daily. It's been proven that those who undergo severe sleep depravation can actually die- after going through all sorts of horrible things- hallucinations, etc.
We rest during the six days but that entire day is not to be set aside to rest, and it is NOT a spiritually focused rest that we undertake during those six days. The Sabbath day is a day of full rest- flesh and spirit rest, a day we are to actually focus on spiritual resting in our God without anything to distract us from that renewing rest in our Creator. As we cease from labor we are acknowledging our need for spiritual renewal in God. It is a necessity, it is a chance for a BLESSING from God! The Sabbath was blessed and made holy so that we who entered into that Sabbath rest are given a special blessing and are sanctified- we are being made holy by our obedience to our Creator, our God, our King, our Savior!
We are to work six days as commanded by our God- and this isn't necessarily work as we know it today but rather work as God meant it- toiling towards providing for ourselves and those under our care. Your job could be working at home as a support to your family- not necessarily a job outside of the home working nine to five. Also, those who work nine to five - their obligation to work, to toil six days a week does not end with the work time clock. They too are commanded to work six days a week following God's plan which isn't Satan's plan. We need to really contemplate this aspect of the commandment of God as well as the RESTING one day, the Sabbath day.
By the grace and mercy of our Savior we will be blessed with understanding through the Holy Spirit so that we may truly follow our God in all ways, not just the ways we assume are right.
In the everlasting love of our God, of our Savior, of the Spirit may we live now and always.
In His love! May His will be done now and forever, may His kingdom come!
In Christ!
Amen.
Six days shalt thou labour,
and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God
in it thou shalt not do any work . . . (Exodus 20:8-10)
This is a commandment not only to rest, but a commandment to use six days to labor. Seriously. It's easy to overlook this aspect of the fourth commandment when we are studying it because we tend to focus on the resting aspect of the day. But if we really examine it, this IS a commandment to WORK for six days prior to the one day of REST.
People have six days to work, six days to labor, not one, not two, not three, four, or five but six days to work. A lot of people have five days of what they call work but in truth when we are not focused upon our Creator we are usually focused where? Upon ourselves, upon the things that we want or need to do. On the seventh day we are to focus upon our Creator and that entails EVERY SINGLE facet of our Creator from beginning to end and by end I mean the end of our ability to know our Creator. There is infinite knowledge of our Creator in truth, and because He is a living being, a being without beginning and without end we can never, ever reach an end of knowing Him. Unlike so much in life that has a beginning and an end where we can discover all we can about things, God is a being that transcends all that. So no one can ever get to a point in their relationship with God where they can say they know everything there is to know about Him.
Six days of work. Six days of the secular. Six days to eke out a living for ourselves.
One day of rest. One day of the spiritual. One day to focus on solely living for God, as God would have us live.
We have one day in seven to store up a spiritual blessing enough to last us the next six days.
The Sabbath was created for us, for our spiritual existence.
Satan would have mankind believe they have no need of a spiritual existence, that a carnal existence is more than enough. Satan convinced Eve that she had no need to listen to God's command, that she needed to indulge HERSELF, she needed to focus on self, not God. Her flesh desires mattered more than God's spiritual desire. The fruit was *pleasing* to the sight. The fruit would give her a knowledge of *good and evil like God*. Yet the bottom line was it was God who told her NOT to eat of that fruit, not to indulge that flesh desire, but rather trust Him to know that it was best for them NOT to know good and evil, but to know rather only good. To gain a knowledge of evil is to open the door to evil.
Today in our sad, sick world we call those raised without exposure to a lot of worldly evils- naïve, as if that is a really bad thing. Our children are missing out on something good if we don't allow them to be exposed to worldly evil. Our children are missing out on vital mental and emotional building blocks when we keep them from evil. It's better people say to let them be exposed to evil at its worse then that way they are prepared to face life armed with necessary knowledge to get them far in our world. LIES!
It is Satan that does NOT want our children protected, any more than He wanted God's children protected. Rather than allowing our children to grow up without be exposed to the intense evil mankind exists in we try to protect them and THEN when they are mature enough is time enough to allow them the full knowledge of the evils out there. Why do we insist they grow up abused by life, just to teach them to develop a tough outer shell?
Satan wanted mankind exposed to evil, God did not. God wanted His children to trust Him and that trust protected them from evil. Satan did not want God's children protected, he wanted them exposed to evil and therefore become unworthy of God and partakers of the same evil he'd become a partaker of.
God wanted mankind to feed spiritually for a full day with Him- this was before sin entered the world. Adam and Eve were tending the beautiful garden and the creatures of the world- this was their six days of labor, just as God had labored in creating their world and bringing them into existence in six days, the seventh Day God rested, the seventh day God set aside as holy, the day after He'd completed His creation of mankind, for mankind. From nothingness into existence and this was worthy of great reflection.
From the beginning until now we have had a seven day week without any astronomic reasoning for it- unlike the month and the year.
Seven days.
Symbolic of creation no matter how the devil has tried to twist even that to become perverted through paganism and pagan titles.
Seven days.
Six days for man to do all they need to do for their flesh existence.
One day for man to do all they need to do for their spiritual existence.
One day out of every seven days we are to be reminded of God in all His glory, we are to be reminded of how we came to exist, why we exist. And Satan would have us forget how and why, rather desiring that we focus on our flesh self, our carnal self. As long as we are focusing on self we are NOT focusing on God and this pleases Satan.
Satan doesn't want us to believe we need to work six days. Satan would much rather have us believe that we deserve two days of rest or more. Satan is equally pleased if we want to work seven days a week. Satan wants us to do anything and everything that will defy God.
Told to work six days we are in essence being told that we need to use six days a week to prepare for the one day of rest. Get all the things we absolutely need to get done in order to provide for ourselves and those under our care and then give ourselves the blessing of devoting the seventh day to God, a spiritual blessing allowing us to set aside everything concerned with our providing for ourselves and allow God to provide for us a spiritual feast. Does this mean we are to shut ourselves up in a closet for a full day? Absolutely NOT! We are to live our lives as our Savior gave us an example to live them and He preached, He taught, He healed, He allowed provisions for eating all on the Sabbath day. He didn't want this day of spiritual renewal, this day of spiritual reminding of our Creator to be a day we abhorred. He didn't want the Sabbath day to be more important than the creature He'd created and MADE the Sabbath for. There would be absolutely NO need for a Sabbath if man hadn't been created. The Sabbath was made FOR US as a GIFT, a special gift and it is Satan who wants it to be seen as a burdensome, restrictive commandment of God's, something to limit us, to take away our time, to take away our carnal desire, something that is bad, not wonderful. It was Satan who allowed the Sabbath to become something seemingly more important than the mankind it was created for. Satan and his deception hard at work.
Six days we are to labor.
One day we are to rest.
This isn't to say we aren't supposed to rest at all during those six days. We are made to need sleep daily, to need the rest of sleep daily. It's been proven that those who undergo severe sleep depravation can actually die- after going through all sorts of horrible things- hallucinations, etc.
We rest during the six days but that entire day is not to be set aside to rest, and it is NOT a spiritually focused rest that we undertake during those six days. The Sabbath day is a day of full rest- flesh and spirit rest, a day we are to actually focus on spiritual resting in our God without anything to distract us from that renewing rest in our Creator. As we cease from labor we are acknowledging our need for spiritual renewal in God. It is a necessity, it is a chance for a BLESSING from God! The Sabbath was blessed and made holy so that we who entered into that Sabbath rest are given a special blessing and are sanctified- we are being made holy by our obedience to our Creator, our God, our King, our Savior!
We are to work six days as commanded by our God- and this isn't necessarily work as we know it today but rather work as God meant it- toiling towards providing for ourselves and those under our care. Your job could be working at home as a support to your family- not necessarily a job outside of the home working nine to five. Also, those who work nine to five - their obligation to work, to toil six days a week does not end with the work time clock. They too are commanded to work six days a week following God's plan which isn't Satan's plan. We need to really contemplate this aspect of the commandment of God as well as the RESTING one day, the Sabbath day.
By the grace and mercy of our Savior we will be blessed with understanding through the Holy Spirit so that we may truly follow our God in all ways, not just the ways we assume are right.
In the everlasting love of our God, of our Savior, of the Spirit may we live now and always.
In His love! May His will be done now and forever, may His kingdom come!
In Christ!
Amen.
Friday, October 28, 2011
Matthew 24:23-31
Mat 24:23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
Believe it not.
BELIEVE … IT... NOT.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
FALSE Christs.
FALSE prophets.
GREAT SIGNS.
GREAT WONDERS.
Signs and wonders so great that IF it were possible those great signs and wonders would deceive the very elect. But it's NOT possible to deceive the very elect. Why? Because the very elect are God's, wholly God's and they are walking in the truth with the Holy Spirit guiding them, fully living under the righteousness of Jesus Christ, covered by His forgiveness, His grace, His love in all these things. The very elect are NOT blind, they are NOT deaf, they are not void of understanding. The very elect are allowed to discern between truth and error, good and evil and they are not able to be deceived by the greatest of all deceivers, Satan himself.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Do NOT believe those who try and convince you that Christ has come and is living on earth and we can go and travel to see Him, it's simply NOT TRUE and will NEVER be true.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The Lord will descend from heaven and … walk around? No. Go about working miracles? No. The Lord STAYS IN THE AIR where we who are His will meet Him!
If ANYONE ever says the Lord is somewhere here on earth and we are to go to Him just don't believe them! Do NOT, no matter what sort of miracles this pretender Christ is working. The Lord- our Bible tells us- will descend from heaven and we will meet Him in the AIR where He stays! We won't meet Him on the ground, NO ONE will meet Christ on the ground. When He returns we meet Him- He doesn't hide somewhere, He isn't inaccessible to His followers-all His followers will be caught up together in the clouds to meet our Savior in the air! This is FACT, this is TRUTH!
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
It's a fact- where there is a dead animal birds of prey will be gathered to eat from that carcass, yes? Of course it's not guaranteed but I've seen it myself- animals dead in the road and on the road side buzzards gathered to feed off what remains of animal. Now this verse to be can be of two meanings…
First- where false Christ's are preaching there will be followers of that false Christ.
Second- where Christ is in the air, there His followers will be.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken
Signs in the sun, the moon, the stars.
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The tribes of the earth mourn as they see our Savior returning in power and glory- why? Because the people of earth, the people who call this world their home, the followers of the prince of this world do NOT want our Savior to return! Remember that broad path many find which leads to destruction? Well the tribes of the earth will have gone down that path and they'll realize their destruction is imminent when they see the Lord returning and it's too late for them to choose to walk the narrow path.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Again…God's elect, God's chosen are GATHERED together by the angels. We are gathered together to meet our Lord in the air. Praise God! Oh glorious day!
You have to really, really take it to heart when we are told the manner of Christ's second coming, because if we don't take it to heart we will be deceived. If we ignore the truth, if we ignore the words of God, if we ignore prophecy, if we ignore the gospel of the kingdom our Savior has preached to us Himself then we will be deceived. It's so easy to believe that it's impossible for us to be deceived, and yet ALL but the very elect will be deceived. MILLIONS will be deceived. BILLIONS will be deceived. I'm not lying to you! This is the truth. We are told, we are warned, we are cautioned, we are given the word of God and we must take heed to His word or we will be among those billions of people deceived. We can't simply think we won't be deceived. We read in the very word of God that we are to TAKE HEED. If someone tells you to take heed they are giving you a warning. I know I've spoken on this a lot lately but it bears repeating over and over, we have to take all this seriously and know that deception is very possibly and highly likely if we are not heeding our Lord's warnings.
Please Lord we would be Yours and Yours alone!
All praise, all glory, all honor to YOU!
Bless us Lord, bless us with Your Holy Spirit, please Lord, please we are at your mercy in all things.
In Your amazing love!
Amen.
Believe it not.
BELIEVE … IT... NOT.
Mat 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
FALSE Christs.
FALSE prophets.
GREAT SIGNS.
GREAT WONDERS.
Signs and wonders so great that IF it were possible those great signs and wonders would deceive the very elect. But it's NOT possible to deceive the very elect. Why? Because the very elect are God's, wholly God's and they are walking in the truth with the Holy Spirit guiding them, fully living under the righteousness of Jesus Christ, covered by His forgiveness, His grace, His love in all these things. The very elect are NOT blind, they are NOT deaf, they are not void of understanding. The very elect are allowed to discern between truth and error, good and evil and they are not able to be deceived by the greatest of all deceivers, Satan himself.
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Do NOT believe those who try and convince you that Christ has come and is living on earth and we can go and travel to see Him, it's simply NOT TRUE and will NEVER be true.
Mat 24:27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
1Th 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
The Lord will descend from heaven and … walk around? No. Go about working miracles? No. The Lord STAYS IN THE AIR where we who are His will meet Him!
If ANYONE ever says the Lord is somewhere here on earth and we are to go to Him just don't believe them! Do NOT, no matter what sort of miracles this pretender Christ is working. The Lord- our Bible tells us- will descend from heaven and we will meet Him in the AIR where He stays! We won't meet Him on the ground, NO ONE will meet Christ on the ground. When He returns we meet Him- He doesn't hide somewhere, He isn't inaccessible to His followers-all His followers will be caught up together in the clouds to meet our Savior in the air! This is FACT, this is TRUTH!
Mat 24:28 For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
It's a fact- where there is a dead animal birds of prey will be gathered to eat from that carcass, yes? Of course it's not guaranteed but I've seen it myself- animals dead in the road and on the road side buzzards gathered to feed off what remains of animal. Now this verse to be can be of two meanings…
First- where false Christ's are preaching there will be followers of that false Christ.
Second- where Christ is in the air, there His followers will be.
Mat 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken
Signs in the sun, the moon, the stars.
Mat 24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
The tribes of the earth mourn as they see our Savior returning in power and glory- why? Because the people of earth, the people who call this world their home, the followers of the prince of this world do NOT want our Savior to return! Remember that broad path many find which leads to destruction? Well the tribes of the earth will have gone down that path and they'll realize their destruction is imminent when they see the Lord returning and it's too late for them to choose to walk the narrow path.
Mat 24:31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Again…God's elect, God's chosen are GATHERED together by the angels. We are gathered together to meet our Lord in the air. Praise God! Oh glorious day!
You have to really, really take it to heart when we are told the manner of Christ's second coming, because if we don't take it to heart we will be deceived. If we ignore the truth, if we ignore the words of God, if we ignore prophecy, if we ignore the gospel of the kingdom our Savior has preached to us Himself then we will be deceived. It's so easy to believe that it's impossible for us to be deceived, and yet ALL but the very elect will be deceived. MILLIONS will be deceived. BILLIONS will be deceived. I'm not lying to you! This is the truth. We are told, we are warned, we are cautioned, we are given the word of God and we must take heed to His word or we will be among those billions of people deceived. We can't simply think we won't be deceived. We read in the very word of God that we are to TAKE HEED. If someone tells you to take heed they are giving you a warning. I know I've spoken on this a lot lately but it bears repeating over and over, we have to take all this seriously and know that deception is very possibly and highly likely if we are not heeding our Lord's warnings.
Please Lord we would be Yours and Yours alone!
All praise, all glory, all honor to YOU!
Bless us Lord, bless us with Your Holy Spirit, please Lord, please we are at your mercy in all things.
In Your amazing love!
Amen.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Matthew 24:13-22
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Endure.
If we endure it means we are going through something to endure, right? Do you endure pleasure? Most would not say they endure pleasure, why? Because they are enjoying it and it's something they don't mind experiencing. When we endure we are putting up with a certain situation because it's necessary. We must endure unto the end of the world and we will be saved. We cannot give in to worldly ways, sins, lusts, deception, the fact of the matter is we will STAND OUT as something odd to the world. And in a world where people long to experience acceptance by their peers and likewise, very few will want to stand out for Christ and His truth. Many will stand out for Christ and deception- which is the trap of Satan, but very few will stand for the absolute truth found in Jesus. We have to endure living in a world ruled by Satan and Satan's followers- disguised and undisguised, and we have to endure all the way to the end not give up as it gets harder and harder to stand for truth, only then will we be saved. As we endure by relying completely upon our Savior's righteousness when the world wants us to rely on ourselves or other people, or false Christ's. Only by trusting wholly in our Savior will we be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
The gospel of the kingdom- Salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This gospel has been preached far and wide and there are very few, if any places that have not had the opportunity to know of the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
The book of Daniel. We've just completed a long study in which we delved into the books of Daniel and Revelation. We studied the 'abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet' and we know that Jesus has guided us fully each step of the way- with broad overviews of our past, present, and future and then more detailed accounts. When we read of this prophecy and by the grace of our God are given understanding we have to be prepared, not clueless, not helplessly ignorant, we have to watch all these signs and know.
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day
Such imagery! Flee! Flee so quickly you don't run into your house and get anything, just FLEE. Flee if you are out working, don't think about going back home to retrieve a single thing… FLEE! And how hard, how difficult it would be if you were pregnant or had young children! How trying it would be to have to flee in the winter cold, or on the sabbath when you are meant to be wholly immersed in God and not caught up in self in any way.
There have been times we can look back to where people saw signs and they fled… yes?
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Jerusalem compassed with armies- this happened! Remember history? In 66AD Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, but NOT destroyed. In 70AD Jerusalem was destroyed by armies. So, if you were a Christian believing in the prophecy of Jesus and you saw the armies surrounding your city and then they left without capturing the city, what would you have done? Would you have relaxed in relief being thankful they were gone? Or would you take that sign as the one Jesus gave when He told you to FLEE, and would you then FLEE? All the Christians that listened and fled the city in haste were spared. All those who stayed in Jerusalem suffered terribly, many dying as the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem captured and the city overthrown. People were warned! People lived because they took heed to the warnings. Praise God!
Now we know for a fact the signs are all mingled and again it's with good reason, so a discerning heart motivated and guided by the Holy Spirit would be able to comprehend and those who would not fully give their hearts to the Lord would not be able to understanding. The blind will remain blind, the deaf will remain deaf.
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Remember this… Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Now we read this…except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved.
The GREAT TRIBULATION- this will be endured by the elect, this will be endured by those who are saved at the very end of the world as we know it before our Savior returns.
The great tribulation is coming and it will be so much worse than we can imagine, yet maybe not in the ways we sometimes do imagine. The deceiver will be using all his lying wonders and the urge to conform to a world who has suddenly joined in believing in Christ, will be so tempting! Only the Christ they'll believe will be a false Christ and ONLY those who understand this fully right now before it comes to pass will be prepared to understand it when it happens. We can't wait to accept the truth, it must be accepted now. Things will NOT happen as the movies predict, things will NOT happen as the many books predict, things will happen as GOD alone predicts and His prophecy is given to us in the Holy Bible. We are not to be spoon fed His word but we are to eat of it eagerly growing quickly from suckling babes into adults as we feast on the word of truth to gain understanding given to us by the Holy Spirit that our Lord promised to send to us.
Please Lord God, Savior, King, Almighty Heavenly Father, please, save us!
By Your amazing LOVE!
Through Your grace and mercy in all YOUR righteousness always through faith.
AMEN.
Endure.
If we endure it means we are going through something to endure, right? Do you endure pleasure? Most would not say they endure pleasure, why? Because they are enjoying it and it's something they don't mind experiencing. When we endure we are putting up with a certain situation because it's necessary. We must endure unto the end of the world and we will be saved. We cannot give in to worldly ways, sins, lusts, deception, the fact of the matter is we will STAND OUT as something odd to the world. And in a world where people long to experience acceptance by their peers and likewise, very few will want to stand out for Christ and His truth. Many will stand out for Christ and deception- which is the trap of Satan, but very few will stand for the absolute truth found in Jesus. We have to endure living in a world ruled by Satan and Satan's followers- disguised and undisguised, and we have to endure all the way to the end not give up as it gets harder and harder to stand for truth, only then will we be saved. As we endure by relying completely upon our Savior's righteousness when the world wants us to rely on ourselves or other people, or false Christ's. Only by trusting wholly in our Savior will we be saved.
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
The gospel of the kingdom- Salvation in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This gospel has been preached far and wide and there are very few, if any places that have not had the opportunity to know of the gospel of the kingdom.
Mat 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
The book of Daniel. We've just completed a long study in which we delved into the books of Daniel and Revelation. We studied the 'abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet' and we know that Jesus has guided us fully each step of the way- with broad overviews of our past, present, and future and then more detailed accounts. When we read of this prophecy and by the grace of our God are given understanding we have to be prepared, not clueless, not helplessly ignorant, we have to watch all these signs and know.
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house:
Mat 24:18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Mat 24:19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day
Such imagery! Flee! Flee so quickly you don't run into your house and get anything, just FLEE. Flee if you are out working, don't think about going back home to retrieve a single thing… FLEE! And how hard, how difficult it would be if you were pregnant or had young children! How trying it would be to have to flee in the winter cold, or on the sabbath when you are meant to be wholly immersed in God and not caught up in self in any way.
There have been times we can look back to where people saw signs and they fled… yes?
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Jerusalem compassed with armies- this happened! Remember history? In 66AD Jerusalem was surrounded by armies, but NOT destroyed. In 70AD Jerusalem was destroyed by armies. So, if you were a Christian believing in the prophecy of Jesus and you saw the armies surrounding your city and then they left without capturing the city, what would you have done? Would you have relaxed in relief being thankful they were gone? Or would you take that sign as the one Jesus gave when He told you to FLEE, and would you then FLEE? All the Christians that listened and fled the city in haste were spared. All those who stayed in Jerusalem suffered terribly, many dying as the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem captured and the city overthrown. People were warned! People lived because they took heed to the warnings. Praise God!
Now we know for a fact the signs are all mingled and again it's with good reason, so a discerning heart motivated and guided by the Holy Spirit would be able to comprehend and those who would not fully give their hearts to the Lord would not be able to understanding. The blind will remain blind, the deaf will remain deaf.
Mat 24:21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Mat 24:22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Remember this… Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Now we read this…except those days should be shortened there should no flesh be saved.
The GREAT TRIBULATION- this will be endured by the elect, this will be endured by those who are saved at the very end of the world as we know it before our Savior returns.
The great tribulation is coming and it will be so much worse than we can imagine, yet maybe not in the ways we sometimes do imagine. The deceiver will be using all his lying wonders and the urge to conform to a world who has suddenly joined in believing in Christ, will be so tempting! Only the Christ they'll believe will be a false Christ and ONLY those who understand this fully right now before it comes to pass will be prepared to understand it when it happens. We can't wait to accept the truth, it must be accepted now. Things will NOT happen as the movies predict, things will NOT happen as the many books predict, things will happen as GOD alone predicts and His prophecy is given to us in the Holy Bible. We are not to be spoon fed His word but we are to eat of it eagerly growing quickly from suckling babes into adults as we feast on the word of truth to gain understanding given to us by the Holy Spirit that our Lord promised to send to us.
Please Lord God, Savior, King, Almighty Heavenly Father, please, save us!
By Your amazing LOVE!
Through Your grace and mercy in all YOUR righteousness always through faith.
AMEN.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Matthew 24: 1-12
Mat 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
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.
Imagine for a moment someone telling you that not one stone will remain upon another as they gaze on the Pyramids, the White House, Westminster Abbey, the Taj Mahal, etcetera. It's not easy for us to imagine our famed buildings being so completely destroyed that not a single stone remains on top of another. Herod's Temple - the Temple Jesus was referring to wasn't a small building, it was an amazing structure. Here read about it--
Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE.
*
Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. Herod was interested in perpetuating his name for all eternity through building projects, and his construction program was extensive. He had magnificent palaces in Masada, Caesarea and Tiberias. Herod built temples for various pagan gods to serve the gentile populations, which were paid for by heavy taxes on the local Jewish population.[18]
But his masterpiece was to be the Temple of Jerusalem. The old temple, built by Zerubbabel nearly half a millennium before, despite frequent renovation, most notably by the Maccabees in the century before, was still run down and relatively small.
In 20 BCE, Herod announced that the old temple would be torn down and replaced with something truly magnificent. The Kohanim, or Jewish priesthood, as well as the rest of the population, were skeptical, requiring Herod to quarry all the stones required for the project before the destruction of the Post-Exile structure could begin.
An agreement was made between Herod and the Jewish religious authorities: the sacrificial rituals, called korbanot, were to be continued unabated for the entire time of construction, and the Temple itself would be constructed by the Kohanim.
Pasted from
Click on that link, or paste it into your web browser and read much more on the Temple of Jesus' time it's fascinating.
Suffice it to say the temple was magnificent and quite on par with some of our famous historic sites today.
To hear Jesus say that the temple would be destroyed was truly something of great interest. This was something the apostles could scarcely imagine, yet they believed because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, God's Son and His word was the word of Truth. Jesus would NEVER speak a lie and they believed His every word.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The temple's destruction to the apostles could mean only one thing- the end of the world. It stood to reason that the great temple just recently erected after years and years of a much simpler temple would not be destroyed unless something catastrophic occurred. So when the disciples asked what the signs of this event would be, and what the signs of the end of the world would be- they most likely imagine the time being the same. Jesus knew better though. Jesus knew the events would be separate and so when we read the following we know that some of it occurred when the temple was destroyed and some will not occur until the end of the world, and still other signs in there would be given so God's people would know to watch, they'd know that Jesus wasn't going to return without ample warning, ample signs of the time.
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
This is good advice always, yes? Men will try to deceive us, and we know that not very often does someone try to deceive another blatantly but rather deceptively so that they are hardly aware they are being deceived. Is it any wonder we, and all those through all time from that moment on, would need to take HEED- to really pay attention- and let NO MAN deceive us.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Many will use Christ's name. Many will say they are Christ's. Many will deceive many and they will do it as supposed Christians! Not Muslims, not atheists, not Buddhists, not Hindu, not Satanists, not pagans… but they will claim to be Christ's and use Christ's name to deceive! No, we can't be partakers of any false religions, but those practices just named are blatant in their godlessness, they are not hiding under the pretense of being Christ followers. They can't deceive us, we know exactly what they are. The ones that deceive us are the ones we have to take heed against and watch out for, those that say they are Christ's but they really, really are not His at all.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
We see all these things don't we? We know these beginning of sorrows quite well they've been going on for a long, long time and only growing worse.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Sin abounds, sin reigns in our world and no one can tell me different. Sin is accepted, completely accepted and the norm for people. Love is ice cold. Is it any wonder we live in a world where divorce is expected, accepted, and considered normal? Is there any wonder parents can send their children off to day cares and schools without any real thought about who their children are being truly raised by? They love their children but like with so much in our world today that love is cold because sin - the love of self is the rule. With the love of self over the love of God the way of life for so many it's any wonder at all this world still exists, seriously. It's true that God isn't going to find very many people who are His, there will be very, very few that are His, very few found surrendered to Christ and His righteousness.
More tomorrow by the grace of our God!
In His Amazing Love.
May we be fully surrendered to the will of God and found living in Him and not in sin that abounds so incredibly much around us. All in Christ's righteousness!
Amen.
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.
Imagine for a moment someone telling you that not one stone will remain upon another as they gaze on the Pyramids, the White House, Westminster Abbey, the Taj Mahal, etcetera. It's not easy for us to imagine our famed buildings being so completely destroyed that not a single stone remains on top of another. Herod's Temple - the Temple Jesus was referring to wasn't a small building, it was an amazing structure. Here read about it--
Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was a massive expansion of the Temple Mount platform and major expansion of the Jewish Temple by King Herod the Great around 19 BCE.
*
Herod's Temple was one of the larger construction projects of the 1st century BCE. Herod was interested in perpetuating his name for all eternity through building projects, and his construction program was extensive. He had magnificent palaces in Masada, Caesarea and Tiberias. Herod built temples for various pagan gods to serve the gentile populations, which were paid for by heavy taxes on the local Jewish population.[18]
But his masterpiece was to be the Temple of Jerusalem. The old temple, built by Zerubbabel nearly half a millennium before, despite frequent renovation, most notably by the Maccabees in the century before, was still run down and relatively small.
In 20 BCE, Herod announced that the old temple would be torn down and replaced with something truly magnificent. The Kohanim, or Jewish priesthood, as well as the rest of the population, were skeptical, requiring Herod to quarry all the stones required for the project before the destruction of the Post-Exile structure could begin.
An agreement was made between Herod and the Jewish religious authorities: the sacrificial rituals, called korbanot, were to be continued unabated for the entire time of construction, and the Temple itself would be constructed by the Kohanim.
Pasted from
Click on that link, or paste it into your web browser and read much more on the Temple of Jesus' time it's fascinating.
Suffice it to say the temple was magnificent and quite on par with some of our famous historic sites today.
To hear Jesus say that the temple would be destroyed was truly something of great interest. This was something the apostles could scarcely imagine, yet they believed because they believed that Jesus was the Messiah, God's Son and His word was the word of Truth. Jesus would NEVER speak a lie and they believed His every word.
Mat 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The temple's destruction to the apostles could mean only one thing- the end of the world. It stood to reason that the great temple just recently erected after years and years of a much simpler temple would not be destroyed unless something catastrophic occurred. So when the disciples asked what the signs of this event would be, and what the signs of the end of the world would be- they most likely imagine the time being the same. Jesus knew better though. Jesus knew the events would be separate and so when we read the following we know that some of it occurred when the temple was destroyed and some will not occur until the end of the world, and still other signs in there would be given so God's people would know to watch, they'd know that Jesus wasn't going to return without ample warning, ample signs of the time.
Mat 24:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
This is good advice always, yes? Men will try to deceive us, and we know that not very often does someone try to deceive another blatantly but rather deceptively so that they are hardly aware they are being deceived. Is it any wonder we, and all those through all time from that moment on, would need to take HEED- to really pay attention- and let NO MAN deceive us.
Mat 24:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Many will use Christ's name. Many will say they are Christ's. Many will deceive many and they will do it as supposed Christians! Not Muslims, not atheists, not Buddhists, not Hindu, not Satanists, not pagans… but they will claim to be Christ's and use Christ's name to deceive! No, we can't be partakers of any false religions, but those practices just named are blatant in their godlessness, they are not hiding under the pretense of being Christ followers. They can't deceive us, we know exactly what they are. The ones that deceive us are the ones we have to take heed against and watch out for, those that say they are Christ's but they really, really are not His at all.
Mat 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Mat 24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Mat 24:8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
We see all these things don't we? We know these beginning of sorrows quite well they've been going on for a long, long time and only growing worse.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Sin abounds, sin reigns in our world and no one can tell me different. Sin is accepted, completely accepted and the norm for people. Love is ice cold. Is it any wonder we live in a world where divorce is expected, accepted, and considered normal? Is there any wonder parents can send their children off to day cares and schools without any real thought about who their children are being truly raised by? They love their children but like with so much in our world today that love is cold because sin - the love of self is the rule. With the love of self over the love of God the way of life for so many it's any wonder at all this world still exists, seriously. It's true that God isn't going to find very many people who are His, there will be very, very few that are His, very few found surrendered to Christ and His righteousness.
More tomorrow by the grace of our God!
In His Amazing Love.
May we be fully surrendered to the will of God and found living in Him and not in sin that abounds so incredibly much around us. All in Christ's righteousness!
Amen.
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