If you don't fear God, you should.

If you don't fear God- you should. Seriously, you really should.

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Yesterday we read plenty of verse about the wrath of God, past and future. Yes, a future wrath.  Our Savior did not magically make the wrath of God disappear. We laugh when various crackpots claim the wrath of God is pouring down on us during various 'natural' disasters.  It's just nature we tell them, it has nothing to do with God's wrath. It can happen to anyone and it's all explainable by various weather patterns and such, oh, and let's not forget, global warming as a cause.  God's wrath as we learned yesterday can influence the weather. We KNOW what God did during the flood, yes? We know, we really do know if we care to believe. We are so much more comfortable just writing it all off as pure chance, mere happenstance, an out of the blue occurrence. We do not want anyone to really believe God's wrath could be in play, because that means there is something for God to be wrathful about. We'd much rather call out we're all like Job, all these things are happening to us for no reason of our own, we're victims, not sinners, not deserving God's wrath.

If you believe in God, if you believe in Jesus Christ, if you believe in the Holy Spirit, you HAVE to believe in what they stand for. What purpose is there in believing if we don't really, truly believe at all? The fairy tale God, the fantasy Jesus Christ, the fictional Holy Spirit, these are the Gods that people are really wanting to believe in. People cling to their misplaced ideas of these three Gods, they nurture them, they build their lives around them. Ask if they believe and they'll readily stand up and shout, "Yes!" But then ask if they fear God, and they are a bit taken aback. Are they supposed to really fear God? But He's loving, kind, forgiving, a big ol' teddy bear God, what is there to fear. And hey, didn't He even tell us to fear not, that fear isn't a good thing?  Isn't one of the signs of the end times- 'men's hearts failing them for fear'? So if we aren't suppose to fear, and we surely don't want our hearts to fail because of our fear then why should we fear God. Is there a difference in fear and fearing God?

Let me ask you something, as a child did you ever fear your parents? Come on, think about it honestly. Did you ever do something wrong and get called to task over it? Wasn't there a bit of fear involved as you were being told to explain? Did that fear displace your love for your parents? Is there a difference between that fear and the fear of say a complete stranger? Of course there is. You can have what is called a healthy fear and that fear involves an element of reverence, something the fear induced evilly doesn't possess. Being scared, being fearful of life around you is a revealer of a lack of trust in God that all things will work out for your good, no matter how awful they are- right? But fearing God is acknowledging the truth- He is our CREATOR, He is our REDEEMER, He is our SUSTAINER, He has POWER over us, over our lives, over our EVERY BREATH. Fearing God is knowing He is our JUDGE! Fearing God is comprehending He has a standard we are judged by, and that standard is revealed in His commandments. Our inability to live under that standard is real too, at least on our own. With Christ and with the Holy Spirit we are able to live under the standard God has given to mankind. Where we fail, He succeeds and He succeed for us IF and only IF we ask Him to, believing in Him to be our righteousness where we have none.

A constant, daily, hourly, minutely belief must exist in us. A realization that there is a standard, an understanding that we fall short of that standard, and a desire to seek forgiveness for our failing, repenting and a seeking unendingly to do what is right under our God's standard. We can never give up desiring to live as He would have us live- keeping His commandments- this is our DUTY!

We all have this duty, yet so many of us would rather hold tight to our fairy tale God and listen to the lies that we don't have live by any standard any longer, we just need to love.  We stop realizing that the LOVE, God would have us live, is found alive and well in every single commandment. It's a lot easier to just throw out the commandments and live in our own idea of love. It's much easier to pick and choose the commandments we want to keep, after all, stealing and murder are wrong no matter what, right? So we can keep those. We might even choose to keep a few more right? But to follow them all, well that's just plain nonsense, isn't it?

Take a look at the ten commandments and tell me which ones you want to keep and which ones you don't… go ahead.

Have you found any?

If you really look at them, study them, know them, know their meaning, their truth tell me honestly do you keep all of them as they were intended to be kept?

We fall short, don't we?  And it's not truly for lack of desiring to keep them, is it? It shouldn't be. There isn't a single commandment there of the ten that should be tossed away or changed in any way.

God warned us that the man of sin would think to change times and laws-

Dan_7:25  And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High: and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

Change times, change laws!  We have NO right to believe we can do that!  We can't change God's laws to suit our idea of them. We can't make them more lax, more easy to follow, more simple to believe. We have to study them and follow them as HE desires us to!

By the grace of GOD and OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, through the power of the HOLY SPIRIT we will study more on this tomorrow.  All in HIS amazing love!

Fear - Jesus

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Our duty is to FEAR GOD and KEEP GOD'S COMMANDMENTS.

Fear God- Read ALL of the following verses and note the wrath of God. We need to note it, because our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. This God of wrath did NOT disappear. This God of wrath did not hand the reins over to another God, the God who became flesh and dwelt among us.  They share the reins- they always have and they always will in whatever capacity they exist in. Jesus did NOT have flesh before He was born on earth, but He existed from everlasting to everlasting, He was God with God. Just as I could say that I am a human with human when I am talking about my husband. There are two of us. Jesus was there as God with God during the entire time of the Old Testament. Right up until He took on flesh.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men

He TOOK upon himself the form of a servant. He CHOSE to became flesh, to be made in the likeness of men! He was God with God and He emptied Himself of that state of existence and took on FLESH.

Php_2:7  but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men (RV)

So when we read about the wrath of God in the Old Testament we HAVE to realize that Jesus, as God with God was THERE the entire time and in full agreement with ALL that was done! When He took on flesh, God with God became Immanuel- God with us. God with God became the ONLY begotten Son of the Father.  He became subject to obeying all that He, as God with God, agreed was the whole duty of man. He became dependent upon God who was now His Father in Heaven, knowing that all that was required of Him, all the obedience, to Love God, and to Love His fellow man was just and good. By HIS grace may we comprehend all that we need to.

Please read all the following verses with the comprehension that Jesus, as God with God, before He took on flesh was right there in agreement with every single word uttered, every action undertaken. They weren't in heaven fighting against one another. Jesus did not take on flesh to prove the Father God in the wrong, not in a single thing! We have to STOP fooling ourselves, we have to! If we get caught up in fooling ourselves then we are lost, so full of delusions, so full of lies that we will remain blind right up to the point we hear our Savior tell us to get away from Him because He never knew us.   God forbid that happen to us! God forbid!

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Examples of the wrath of God- with God in agreement...

Exo 32:9  And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Exo 32:10  Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

God's wrath-a consuming wrath.

Num_11:33  And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

Wrath of the LORD- smiting with a very great plague.

Deu_11:17  And then the LORD'S wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

LORD'S wrath- no rain.

Deu_29:23  And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath

LORD'S wrath - like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah - fire, brimstone, salt.

Deu_29:28  And the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.

LORD'S wrath- displaced from your own land.

2Ki_22:13  Go ye, enquire of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book, to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.

2Ki 22:16  Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the words of the book which the king of Judah hath read:

2Ki_22:17  Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched.

The LORD'S wrath-   against those not hearkening, not doing what God commands, burning incense to other gods.

2Ch_24:18  And they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.

Wrath- against those serving groves and idols.

2Ch 28:9  But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded: and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, because the LORD God of your fathers was wroth with Judah, he hath delivered them into your hand, and ye have slain them in a rage that reacheth up unto heaven.
2Ch 28:10  And now ye purpose to keep under the children of Judah and Jerusalem for bondmen and bondwomen unto you: but are there not with you, even with you, sins against the LORD your God?
2Ch 28:11  Now hear me therefore, and deliver the captives again, which ye have taken captive of your brethren: for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you.

God wroth,  fierce wrath of the Lord against those who disobey God.

2Ch_30:8  Now be ye not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves unto the LORD, and enter into his sanctuary, which he hath sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you

2Ch_34:21  Go, enquire of the LORD for me, and for them that are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out upon us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD, to do after all that is written in this book.

2Ch_34:25  Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be poured out upon this place, and shall not be quenched.

2Ch_36:16  But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his people, till there was no remedy.

Ezr_5:12  But after that our fathers had provoked the God of heaven unto wrath, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house, and carried the people away into Babylon.

Ezr_8:22  For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.

Neh_13:18  Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the sabbath.

Psa_21:9  Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them.

Psa_38:1  A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance. O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.

Psa_78:31  The wrath of God came upon them, and slew the fattest of them, and smote down the chosen men of Israel.
Psa_78:38  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.

John the Baptist-
Mat 3:7  But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Jesus-
Luk 21:22  For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 21:23  But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.

Joh_3:36  He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

Rom_1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness

Rom_2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God

Eph_5:6  Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

Col_3:6  For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience

1Th_1:10  And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Rev_11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

Rev_14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb

Rev_14:19  And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

Rev_15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

Rev_15:7  And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.

Rev_16:1  And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

Rev_16:19  And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.

Rev_19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

The wrath of God is NOT a thing of the past.

When we read these words-

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.


-we have to believe them!

Every secret thing, whether GOOD or EVIL will be known to God. Our every action. There isn't any other reason for us to need to fall to our knees daily seeking the forgiveness of our God, clinging to HIS righteousness, all through His grace and mercy!  Just knowing that our every action is subject to God, and knowing how far we fall short of what we know we should be as we seek to Fear God and keep His commandments, this alone should compel us to seek an ever closer walk with our Savior. Satan would have us despair, telling us it is all impossible, but we know that with Christ, nothing is impossible and it will be Christ's righteousness which saves us.

Please Lord help us to be YOURs to FEAR YOU as we need to in reverence and true fear, help us to keep Your commandments, commandments you gave to us out of LOVE for us.

In Your LOVE Always!  All glory, all praise, all honor unto You our God, our High Priest, our King!

Fear - God

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

My thoughts-

Solomon, the wisest of the wise.

God said… 1 Ki 3:12 'I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.'

Solomon, the wisest man EVER!

And this man said this -  The CONCLUSION of the WHOLE MATTER-   FEAR GOD, and KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS- this is the WHOLE DUTY of MAN.

The whole matter- the whole duty of man.

Fear God,
Keep God's Commandments.

How many people fear God? Seriously, how many? Do we know what it means to fear God?

STRONG'S MODULE-

1. to fear, revere, be afraid
a. (Qal)
1. to fear, be afraid
2. to stand in awe of, be awed
3. to fear, reverence, honour, respect
b. (Niphal)
1. to be fearful, be dreadful, be feared
2. to cause astonishment and awe, be held in awe
3. to inspire reverence or Godly fear or awe
c. (Piel) to make afraid, terrify
2. (TWOT) to shoot, pour

- Origin: a primitive root
- TWOT entry: 907,908
- Part(s) of speech: Verb

- Strong's: A primitive root; to fear; morally to revere; causatively to frighten: - affright be (make) afraid dread (-ful) (put in) fear (-ful -fully -ing). (be had in) reverence (-end) X see terrible (act -ness thing).

Did you read that? Really read that?

Fear- a real FEAR as well as a real reverence.

We don't think we really need to fear God, do we?

We want Jesus, not God the Father.

We want to believe that Jesus did away with the wrath of God. We want to believe that Jesus showed us a new and improved God, a God that no longer wants to enforce His own commandments.

We want to believe lies because lies make us feel not quite so bad about ourselves.  We want to believe in love and forgiveness rather than love and obedience. We want to forget the obedience part, forget all about the fact it was disobedience that brought sin into humanity, into our world. If we forget about it then we don't really have to believe that only obedience to God is salvation. We can only accept salvation through obedience, obeying our Savior's command to believe, obeying our Savior's command to repent, to confess, to love.

We must obey.

Our duty is to FEAR GOD and KEEP GOD'S COMMANDMENTS.

More tomorrow by the GRACE of our beloved, merciful GOD!

All praise, all glory, all honor to our GOD!

Deceived!

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.

Ecc 9:10  Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

How can we read these verses and still believe that after we are put in the grave, after we are dead, that we have an active life?

How?

There is no work.
There is no device.
There is no knowledge.
There is no wisdom.
There is nothing.
And the dead KNOW NOT ANY THING.

The dead know not any thing.

How much more clearer can this be?

Yet millions and millions and millions of people believe the dead know EVERYTHING.

It's NOT Biblical, yet so many believe.

God will let people believe lies-

2Th 2:10  And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11  And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
2Th 2:12  That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness

If millions, billions of people believe that death is just a stepping stone into another existence where we continue to think, where we see our loved ones still living, where we help those still living then they are believing a lie. They are allowed to believe this lie because- 'they received NOT the love of the truth that they might be saved'!

We have to LOVE the TRUTH!

We can't pick and choose our own truths to believe, to love. When we pick our own truths, things that are we want to hear as opposed to the reality of hard truths.

2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4  And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

Lies!

Billions believe lies! Or perhaps just millions, but there are so incredibly many people caught up in the lie and they show NO desire for truth, none. The truth just doesn't fit into their desires, their fables, their made up unbiblical beliefs.

Please LORD give us a desire for ONLY YOUR TRUTH and nothing else! Please LORD! Help us live in YOUR TRUTH! We don't want to be blinded, we don't want to believe delusions! 

In YOUR LOVE ALWAYS!

Where we are called, there we are to abide with God

1Co 7:20  Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
1Co 7:21  Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
1Co 7:22  For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's servant.
1Co 7:23  Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
1Co 7:24  Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Bonhoeffer- 'How different it all sounds from the calling of the first disciples! They had to leave everything and follow Jesus. Now we are told- "Let each man abide in the calling wherein he was called." How are we to reconcile the contradiction? Only by recognizing the underlying motive both of the call of Jesus and of the exhortation of the apostle. In both cases it is the same-- to bring their hearers into the fellowship of the Body of Christ. The only way the first disciples could enter that fellowship was by going with Jesus. But now through the Word and Sacrament the Body of Christ is no longer confined to a single place. The risen and exalted Lord had returned to the earth to be nearer than ever before. The Body of Christ has penetrated into the heart of the world in the form of the Church. The baptized Christian is baptized into that Body. Christ has come to him and taken his life into his own, thus robbing the world of its own. If a man is baptized as a slave, he has now as a slave become a partaker in the common life of the Body of Christ. As a slave he is already torn from the world's clutches, and become a freedman of Christ. That is why the slave is told to stay as he is. As a member of the Body of Christ he has acquired a freedom which no rebellion or revolution could have brought him. Of course St. Paul does not mean thereby to bind him more closely to the world, or to give him a spiritual anchor so that he can continue his life in the world. When he admonishes the slave to stay as he is, it is not because he wants to make him a better citizen of the world or a more loyal one. It is not as though St. Paul were trying to condone or gloss over a black spot in the social order. He does not mean that the class-structure of secular society is so good and godly an institution that it would be wrong to upset it by revolution. The truth of the matter is that the whole world has already been turned upside-down by the work of Jesus Christ, which has wrought a liberation for freeman and slave alike. A revolution would only obscure that divine New Order which Jesus Christ has established. It would also hinder and delay the disruption of the existing world order in the coming of the kingdom of God. It would be equally wrong to suppose that St Paul imagines that the fulfillment of our secular calling is itself the living of the Christian life. No, his real meaning is that to renounce rebellion and revolution is the most appropriate way of expressing our conviction that the Christian hope is not set on this world, but on Christ and his kingdom.. And so-- let a slave remain a slave! It is not reform that the world needs, for it is already ripe for destruction. And so - let the slave remain a slave. He enjoys a better promise. Surely there is enough judgment for the world and comfort for the slave in the fact that God 'took upon himself the form of a slave' (Phil.2:7) when he came to earth.'

My thoughts-  How true, and yet right now in our world today there is a constant rebellion against what we call injustice.  It is true that there are so many injustices in the world we can't begin to count them all. It is equally true that turning a blind eye to injustices can result in the atrocious tortures of our fellow man. So where do we draw a line? Where do we say this is too much, we must step in?  Do we really forever and always have to turn the other cheek and accept that abuse will go on? Do we fight for others, if not ourselves? Aren't we to do all we can out of love for others to protect them, care for them, as we know Jesus would?

One thing I think it is very easy for us to forget; when Jesus walked the earth before His death and resurrection, during the three years of his ministry there were gross atrocities taking place. Those awful abuses didn't stop during His time upon earth, they went right on. The Romans didn't suddenly become less abusive of all those they ruled over. Their debase entertainments didn't cease. The debauchery was alive and well all around the world that Jesus lived in and He did NOT call for His apostles to rise up and destroy those who were committing the worst of sins. Jesus did not send His disciples to war to free the abused slaves. Yet somehow we believe that we should in all good conscience go to war to keep people from hurting others. 

I know it sounds as if I'm advocating abuse but I'm not, not any more than our Savior did as He walked the earth teaching, preaching, living and loving, as He was put to death for us.

We have to live for Christ, in Christ. We have to live for the world to come. Jesus came to teach us that there is hope and it is found in Him, in the kingdom of heaven. He did not come to teach us to fight here and now as if we truly believe we can rid the world of evil and bring in peace. We have no such power! 

We must LOVE, He taught LOVE for one another, but He did not teach us to force others to love, he did not teach us that this world will fill up with Christ followers. In fact, Jesus taught us the opposite.

Luk 17:26  And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luk 17:27  They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:28  Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded;
Luk 17:29  But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.
Luk 17:30  Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.


In the days of Noah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of Sodom and Gomorrah the world was FILLED with evil.
In the days of the second coming of Christ the world will be FILLED with evil.

With our God telling us how things will be, why do we imagine we have some sort of power to rid the world of evil? We do NOT. We are to LOVE others, but NEVER force love, it ceases to be love the instant it is forced.

Where we find ourselves in life we are to live in Christ, seeking to LOVE as He would have us LOVE.

This isn't a popular belief, especially nowadays, but it is God's belief, it is a Biblical belief, it is our Savior's belief.

We are to live in Christ and we are free in Christ because we are living for the world to come, not the world that exists all around us.

All that surrounds us is temporary to eternity and we must NEVER forget that, not ever!

By the grace and mercy of our LORD, let us live in HIM in all things.

We can't wait until they deserve our love

Bonhoeffer- 'The member of the Body of Christ has been delivered from the world and called out of it. He must give the world a visible proof of his calling, not only by sharing in the Church's worship and discipline, but also through the new fellowship of brotherly living. If the world despises one of the brethren, the Christian will love and serve him. If the world does him violence, the Christian will succor and comfort him. If the world dishonors and insults him, the Christian will sacrifice his own honor to cover his brother's shame. Where the world seeks gain, the Christian will renounce it. Where the world exploits, he will dispossess himself, and where the world oppresses, he will stoop down and raise up the oppressed. If the world refuses justice, the Christian will pursue mercy, and if the world takes refuge in lies, he will open his mouth for the dumb, and bear testimony to the truth. For the sake of the brother, be he Jew or Greek, bond or free, strong or weak, noble or base, he will renounce all fellowship with the world. For the Christian serves the fellowship of the Body of Christ, and he cannot hide it from the world. He is called out of the world to follow Christ.'

My thoughts-

'Brotherly living'.  Are we living brotherly?

Please read the lyrics to the song- Hold Us Together- by Matt Maher

"Hold Us Together"

It don't have a job, don't pay your bills
Won't buy you a home in Beverly Hills
Won't fix your life in five easy steps
Ain't the law of the land or the government?
But it's all you need

And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

It's waiting for you knocking at your door
In the moment of truth when your heart hits the floor
And you're on your knees

And love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

This is the first day of the rest of your life
This is the first day of the rest of your life
'Cause even in the dark you can still see the light
It's gonna be alright, it's gonna be alright

Love will hold us together
Make us a shelter to weather the storm
And I'll be my brother's keeper
So the whole world would know that we're not alone

Pasted from

I was reminded of this song when I read the words 'brotherly love' .  The lyrics- 'I'll be my brother's keeper' particularly struck home with me.  Are we are brother's keeper? Cain insinuated to God that He wasn't his brother's keeper.

Gen_4:9  And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

We ARE our brother's keeper! We are! We should be! And our brothers are every other human being- from what people would call the worse sort of human being to the best. Our humanity alone gives us this and Christ alone gives us the love we have towards those who are just like us. I say just like us because underneath all the superficial bits we all have the same basic needs. The most hardened criminal who claims to not even want the first inkling of love from any one has allowed Satan to affect him so that he truly believes that what he is saying is truth.  But human beings were created to love and be loved. Satan wants to destroy love and will use everything he can to do just that. We know that our Savior would have us love as He loves and that means loving the unlovable because WE are unlovable aren't we? Seriously.  We can NEVER be GOOD enough to deserve love, it must be a gift that is given to us undeservedly and THAT is exactly how we are to love others, all others! We aren't to wait for them to deserve it, if we do that, then we will deserve the same and we will not be God's!  We will never deserve forgiveness, we will never deserve the love of God.  All by His grace we are given His forgiveness, His love.

So yes, we are our brothers' keepers. We are to let the LOVE of God hold us together, we are to help each other weather all of life's storms.  We are not alone in Christ.  Our love for others must be a real, visible love, not something we mouth in our prayers or tell others about, it must be a living active love for others.

All by the LOVE of God!

In Christ

Gal 3:27  For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

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.

Bonhoeffer- 'In the Church men look upon one another no longer as free men, or slaves, as men or women, but as members of Christ's body. To be sure this does not mean that the slave is no longer a slave, nor the man a man. But it does mean that in the Church no one has to be considered in his special capacity, whether he be Jew or Greek, freeman or bondservant. Any such respect of persons must be excluded at all costs. We take account of each other only with regard to our membership in the Body of Christ, that is to say, that we are all one in Christ. Jew and Greek, freeman and bondservant, man and woman now stand within the fellowship as part of the community of the Body of Christ. Wherever Christians live together, conversing and dealing with one another, there is the Church, there they are in Christ. This is what transforms the whole character of their fellowship. The wife obeys her husband "in the Lord"; by serving his master the slave serves God, and the master knows that he too has a Lord in heaven (Col 3:18-4:1)

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 4:1  Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

...but they are all breather "in the flesh and in the Lord."

My thoughts-

Do we really live in this way? Do we really consider our fellow Christ followers our equals in Christ? Are we, as Christ followers, to love ALL without respect to their stations and all that people choose to take offence with?

We are, just as Christ. Christ loves the sinner, us, for we are all sinners. We cannot point to one other person and say they are unworthy. We cannot point to any one and claim any sort of superiority over them. We are all sinners, we all fall short of the glory of God. When we are in Christ, in the Body, the Church, when we are Christ's people we are all HIS and as HIS He is our all in all loving us and calling us to love one another as HE LOVES US.  He doesn't want us to love others as we desire to, but to love as HE LOVES. He will give us HIS love! The Holy Spirit will live in us, Christ in us!

Col_1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory

The hope of glory in us!

Christ has to live in us because in and of ourselves we are nothing. 

We are everything in Christ, and all who are in Christ are equal in Christ.   We can love because He loves!

Christ in us! The hope of glory!

Joh_14:17  Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

The Spirit of Truth in us!

Joh_15:4  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Abide in Christ!

Rom_8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

Spirit of God in us!

Rom_8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

The Spirit of God in us!

1Co_6:19  What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

We are not our own!

Gal_4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you

Christ formed in us!

Php_2:13  For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

God working in us!

1Jn_4:4  Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Greater is HE that is IN us, than he that is in the world!

Our God is greater! And HE is in US!

We must believe!

Not worthy, never worthy, blessed by His GRACE!